The London Dudgeon

"You have been found guilty of desertion and doing a Reginald Perrin into the Sea." I was told by the Judge, who was wearing a large powder wig and flowing red robes. The Wife and I laughed at this, as we were both familar with the British comedy The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, in which he strips naked and runs into the ocean as the open credits roll. None of the other Americas in a our group of about fifteen got the joke. The rest of the group was found guilty of cowardice in the face of the enemy. We were all being sent to the London Dungeon.

A short walk from Tower Bridge, in one of the many lovely warehouse districts of London, is an unassuming building that houses the wax museum/house of horrors that is The London Dungeon. It has been a few years since last I was there, judging by the website they have added a lot more action to the place, it was mainly a wax museum when we were there. But it was a fun wax museum, was a lot of people in period costumes wandering about. The museum had two main parts, a self-guiding walk through London During the Plague and then a guided tour where your are Judged and Sentenced and sent to the Guillotine.

During the self guided part of the London Dungeon the rooms were dim and partly lit by candle light. Real candle light, supplied by very large candles with four or five inch open flames. These tapers were just sitting around and burning merrily away-the kind of thing you would never see in an American museum of any kind. But it seemed perfectly normal here.

New since we where there is an exhibit featuring the demon barber of Fleet Street, Sweeney Todd, Extremis: Drop Ride to Doom!, and Traitor! Boat Ride to Hell! They are fond of exclamation points at the London Dungeon. It will take about an hour and half to see all there is to see in The London Dungeon. Prices for London Dungeon : Adult: £19.95 / Child: £13.95 / Student: £14.95 / Disabled Adult: £17.95 / Disabled Child: £9.95 /OAP (60+ yrs): £14.95

Just remember when you are in front of the Judge to call him, Your Honor. He'll still sentence you to be hanged, but he will be nicer about it.